1984 riots: Did Amitabh Bachchan flame anger against Sikhs?

New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan provoked rioters during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, alleged a prime witness of the massacre. She further said everyone who had been watching Doordarshan witnessed the actor "raising his arm and shouting the slogan, 'khun ka badla khun sae laengae' (blood for blood) two times".

In an interview with English daily The Times of India, Jagdish Kaur, the prime witness of the hate crime against Sikhs, said, "I saw Amitabh spewing venom in full public glare and everyone who had been watching Doordarshan saw Amitabh Bachchan raising his arm and shouting the slogan, 'khun ka badla khun sae laengae' two times."

India erupted in riots against Sikhs in 1984 after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.

"I wonder why no one in India lodged case against Amitabh Bachchan for provoking killing of Sikhs," she said.

"I am not concerned that a case has been registered against him in Australia but all I want to know why nobody noticed Amitabh's provoking statement in India," Kaur asked.

Recently, a US-based Sikh human rights group lodged a criminal complaint against Bachchan in Australia for instigating and abetting 1984 anti Sikh riots. Australia's 'Criminal Code Act 1995' states that Australian courts can have jurisdiction over cases involving crimes against humanity irrespective of whether the offense was committed in Australia or not.

Jagdish Kaur, then 42, had seen her husband and son being murdered in cold blood by a frenzied mob inside her house in Palam Colony (West Delhi) on November 1, 1984. She also saw her three brothers Narinder Pal Singh (35), Raghwinder Singh (28) and Kuldeep Singh (21), all contractors with MES, burning to death by the mob while they were trying to save themselves.